Project Summary/Abstract Louisiana PRAMS (LaPRAMS) is an ongoing, population-based risk factor surveillance system designed to describe selected maternal behaviors and experiences that occur before and during pregnancy as well as during a child's early infancy. LaPRAMS is a cooperative effort between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Louisiana Office of Public Health, Department of Health and Hospitals. LaPRAMS began data collection in 1997. Objectives: Research has indicated that maternal behaviors during pregnancy may influence infant birth weight and mortality rates. The goal of the PRAMS project is to improve the health of mothers and infants by reducing adverse outcomes such as low birth weight, infant mortality and morbidity, and maternal morbidity. PRAMS provides state-specific data for planning and assessing health programs and for describing maternal experiences that may contribute to maternal and infant health. Methods: The PRAMS sample of women who have had a recent live birth is drawn from the state's birth certificate file. Louisiana typically samples roughly 2,400 women per year. Women from some groups are sampled at a higher rate to ensure adequate data are available in smaller but higher risk populations. In Louisiana's case, women will be stratified by parish of residence (urban vs. rural) and infant birth weight (low vs. normal). Selected women are first contacted by mail. If there is no response to repeated mailings, women are contacted and interviewed by telephone. Data collection procedures and instruments are standardized to allow comparisons between states.